Alpha 2 2015 – Day 2

written by mate, Alex Armson, brought to you by the crew of Venture
July 8, 2015

Today, Matt was skipper of the day and John was his mate and navigator. After what seemed to be a long time on the docks, we finally set sail for the first time! Matt drove us off the docks and demonstrated perfectly how it should be done. While we were sailing, we learned how to raise the mainsail which Garrett, Alex, Casey, Bridget and David helped out with. Garrett expected it to be a lot more difficult than it actually was. Our main sheet masters were John and Olivia, who learned about easing and bringing in the main. Carla and Olivia were in charge of the jib today, and after this was done, we could finally turn the engine off and properly sail to our first destination, Cooper Island.

We arrived at Cooper Island on time and picked up the mooring ball after a few attempts. Matt did a great job of remaining calm throughout the whole process, even when it wasn’t successful.

Divers went to shore after lunch and completed their knowledge review section of their diving curriculum. Meanwhile, Will succeeded in breaking a coconut open and Carla, Joseph, Garrett and John went paddle boarding and kayaking around the mooring field, and saw the Cooper Island resident turtles while they were out there.

We got back to the boat and took our first boat showers, which some people took better to than others. After a bit of a chaotic dinner prep and an entire bag of rice later, we finally had dinner. Our crew did a great job of cleaning the boat, but we need to work on communicating effectively and using less Axe body spray. Our quote of the day was when Garrett said “This is Armani, it’s not waterproof”.

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